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Lighted by a very bright half moon, night becomes day during this 30-second time exposure view of the stars and aircraft in the skies over Half Dome as seen from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.

Moments after being married at Tunnel View, Cyrenea and Josh Piper from College Station, Texas, walk atop the rock wall while their photographer snaps photos of the newlyweds against one of the most iconic backdrops in Yosemite National Park.

Lighted by a very bright half moon, night becomes day during this 30-second time exposure view of the stars in the sky over Upper and Lower Yosemite Fall and part of the lodging the Yosemite Valley from a Glacier Point vantage point.

Park Ranger Bob Roney walks across the entrance of the Wawona Tunnel, framing the famous Tunnel View. Roney, who has been a ranger at Yosemite for for almost 46 years, said his first visit to the park stole his heart and that ever since then his whole life has been centered on the valley.

A full view of Half Dome

Japanese artist Hokusai liked Mt. Fuji. Really liked it. So in the 1820s and 1830s, he made a series of 36 woodblock prints of the mountain, from near and far, in summer and winter. When they went over well, he made 10 more scenes. Then, because an artist must follow his muse, he started a new series: 100 views of Mt. Fuji.

When I’m looking at Half Dome, the great granite hood ornament of Yosemite National Park, I understand Hokusai and Fuji. You see Half Dome on a century’s worth of postcards, on Ansel Adams prints and Sierra Club calendars, on your waiter’s name tag at the Wawona Hotel, on the new California driver’s licenses.

Yet to me, it seems inexhaustible.

When I visited Yosemite with photographer Mark Boster in late May, we glanced at a few other popular spots, but mostly we chased Half Dome variations. Though we didn’t summit the big rock — the climbing cables weren’t in place for the season — we saw it from so many directions and elevations that I started thinking of it as the third member of our traveling party.

Some people say Half Dome looks like a football helmet or a broken bowling ball. I always saw a dented ranger’s hat. Until this trip.

For a proper introduction or a ritual re-introduction, a traveler heads from the park’s south entrance to the Tunnel View turnout. You may find yourself standing in a crowd — on a busy day, 5,000 people pause here — but you’ll spot Half Dome, bracketed by El Capitan to the left, Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall to the right. And if the crowds are thin, you may think: This is the place. No view can match this. But just up the road, plenty can.